Tag
by ryoku1
Summary: Slaine was strange. If Inaho asked the other mer in their nesting grounds, they would probably say he was the strange one, not Slaine; but they were wrong. Slaine was much stranger. Mer AU


Note: This was written for the original fanbook in 2015 (?) and is being put here upon request, since the page for the original fanbook has gone down.

* * *

Slaine was strange. If Inaho asked the other mer in their nesting grounds, they would probably say he was the strange one, not Slaine; but they were wrong. Slaine was much stranger.

Slaine liked everything. He liked the ocean, and shells, and plants, and Harklight; but those were all rather normal things for mer to like. Of course, Inaho sort of liked those things too, but only sort of, and only when they were useful - except for Harklight, who was never useful, and was only fun to watch when Slaine got into trouble. But Slaine, being Slaine, did not only like those normal things. He liked the sky, and the land, and the little crawly animals he could play with on the beaches, and land plants, and loud obnoxious birds, and human junk, and worst of all, humans. Slaine liked all of those things, and that was very strange.

Everyone thought Inaho was strange, because he didn't need to be looked after, or taken care of. This was abnormal for a mer so young. He did have his older sister Yuki to look after him, which was nice for sleeping, and occasionally when he wanted an older mer to spend time with, but it didn't seem to most of the others that he needed her. That was nonsense, of course, but he didn't bother correcting them. They were wrong about a lot of things. He also wasn't loud, or clingy; it was, apparently, strange. Everyone looked at him as if he was weird. They all whispered and called him names, and Yuki worried. This was all while Slaine was off doing something stupid when no one was looking. Slaine did that too, he got into a lot of trouble, and Inaho didn't.

Inaho didn't really dislike that no one noticed how strange Slaine was; it didn't really matter to him. What did matter, was that Slaine's dangerous quirks didn't make him strange, but Inaho was weird, despite his harmless habits. There were many times that Harklight had to swoop in and save Slaine from harm, while he and Yuki spent nice lazy days together, without incident. Somehow they were the weird ones. Maybe it was because everyone expected Harklight to slip up, and for Slaine to be carried away by a human, or killed by a predator. Maybe they were prematurely finding him endearing because they knew he was doomed. That was possible, but Inaho didn't like it. Just because Slaine was damned by his own stupidity, didn't make him less strange than Inaho. That wasn't fair, but when he explained all of these things to Yuki, she shook her head, played with his hair affectionately, and told him that maybe he should try and be friends with Slaine. She didn't understand that her suggestion was absurd. Slaine was silly, dumb, childish, and shallow in what he liked. Inaho had a hard time finding any redeeming qualities in him at all. Not to mention that Slaine was also a very active mer. Inaho didn't even want to think of doing all the things Slaine did in a day's time. It wouldn't be so bad if those were things that needed to be done, but most of the things Slaine did were completely useless.

Yuki expected him to get along with the other young mer, and that was hard enough already. It didn't help that the bold ones called him weird, and the shy ones whispered about him, but for her, he tried. There was no way he was ever going to be friends with 'head in the clouds' Slaine, the most (arguably) endearingly dumb youth in their breeding grounds. Just not possible.

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Despite her younger brother's outright refusal, Yuki had taken her own advice to heart. She'd never said it to him, but Inaho knew she worried. He didn't have many friends, not really, and she would join the adults in a year. Inaho's statements about Slaine had probably seemed like an excellent solution to her. If Slaine and Inaho became friends, Harklight would look after Inaho when Yuki joined their parents. Harklight was a few years younger than Yuki, so he'd have more time to supervise them before he would have to join the adults too. Not to mention that Slaine and Inaho were similar ages, with only a one year difference. Yuki probably hoped they would establish a lifelong friendship (which Inaho expected, in Slaine's case, would be rather short). In her mind, it likely made good sense, and she'd taken the initiative and had set up a sort of play date for them.

Despite having a very good idea of why she was subjecting him to this torture, Inaho remained indignant. He was also convinced that it was so he could babysit the stupid mer, while Harklight actually slept for once. Harklight might have been born with those dark rings under his eyes, but Inaho doubted it. Slaine tended to get himself into an unhealthy amount of trouble; humans and predators seemed to be the most common problems, but 'head in the clouds' Slaine had some downright bizarre encounters, which everyone talked about as if they were cute little stories. Of course no one talked about how cute those stories were around Harklight, but he probably heard whispers, just like Inaho did. It was a miracle that Slaine was still alive at all. He couldn't understand why Yuki wanted him to have such a dangerous friend.

If Inaho was Harklight, he would have dumped Slaine a long time ago, but he knew that wasn't how these things worked.

So that was how Inaho found himself in the company of 'head in the clouds' Slaine, close enough to the shore that not too many predators should be around, but not on the beach where humans could snatch them. He'd picked the spot, because it should be safe, and because he didn't want to have to help Slaine should something go wrong. He also didn't want to be blamed when Slaine did something wrong, both of which were probably inevitable.

At that moment, Inaho was lounging on a rock, sunning himself and trying to doze off. Unless Slaine really did attract trouble, he could rest through this, and he'd be better off for it. Slaine was deeper into the ocean, poking at crabs, and yelping when they snapped at his fingers. Or maybe it was just one really irritated crab, and Slaine was just constantly pestering it; Inaho couldn't say for sure, and didn't really care.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and there was a nice sea breeze ruffling his hair that wasn't too cold. The sound of the waves as they hit the beach in the distance was rhythmic, even, and soothing. It was a wonderful day for napping, but the sound of Slaine yelping every time the crab snapped at him was enough to rouse Inaho from whatever rest he could manage. After being woken several times, Inaho began to find it very irritating. He thought about moving to a rock that was farther away, so the noise wouldn't bother him as much, but that would be so much effort. Instead, he opened one eye, and peered over in Slaine's direction.

"You should stop." he stated, watching as Slaine poked at where the crab probably was. He heard a snap, and Slaine giggled, before pulling his fingers away, and looking over at him inquisitively.

"Why?" Slaine asked, innocently blinking at him. He seemed honestly curious why Inaho thought he should stop.

Inaho huffed softly to himself, giving Slaine a look that was meant to be indignant. "Do something that isn't noisy."

Slaine's curious expression was quickly replaced by a frown, as he scrunched up his nose and lips.

"I'm not noisy." he stated, his eyes narrowing at Inaho, before he tossed his head back towards where the crabs were. It was an obvious dismissal, but Inaho didn't care as long as Slaine shut up.

"You are," Inaho replied, leaving no uncertainty in his tone. He kept his eyes on Slaine, trying to implore him to be quiet, but Slaine wasn't looking at him. It was probably useless anyway.

"I'm not," Slaine shot back, still not looking over at Inaho. The crab was more interesting to him, though he obviously cared enough to respond.

Inaho couldn't exactly call that being ignored, since Slaine had replied, but it wasn't nice either. He scrunched up his nose a little, shook his head ever so slightly, and turned his back towards Slaine. He was now facing the beach in the distance, and it was a much nicer sight than Slaine was. It was useless to argue. Inaho knew he was right, even if Slaine didn't want to admit it. There wasn't any point in arguing over something like that.

Not wanting to lose, and not knowing how to respond when Inaho didn't play along, Slaine's voice piped up indignantly from behind him. "At least I make noise."

Inaho ignored the comment, and squeezed his eyes closed, resting his head on his arm so his face wasn't sitting on the cold surface of the rock.

"You just sit there, like a dead thing." Slaine added a few moments later, when it became obvious he was being ignored.

Inaho continued to disregard Slaine, and for a while, the sound of Slaine harassing the crab stopped. Inaho let his eyelids ease, so that they were simply closed, instead of shut tight. Laying there in the peace and quiet of the waves was very nice. Inaho felt himself slowly drifting off into a pleasant doze, when a sound in the water disturbed him. He quickly blinked his eyes open, only to see Slaine's blue green eyes right in front of him, their noses almost touching. Inaho had expected a predator, or danger, and the sight startled him horribly. He gasped, and stumbled backwards. An outright yelp escaped him, as he tumbled off the rock in his effort to put some distance between them, splashing loudly into the water. The ocean was disgustingly cold compared to how warm the rock and sunshine had been.

Trying to warm back up, Inaho squirmed in the water, thrashing his tail back and forth, and rubbing up and down on his arms. If his tail hit Slaine as he squirmed around, he deserved it. The other mer was laughing at him, so he definitely deserved it. Slaine's laughter didn't stop, even when Inaho whacked him, and it was enough to make Inaho's cheeks noticeably hotter than before. "See?" Slaine gasped between laughing. "I can be quiet too!"

Inaho glared, and resisted the urge to reach over and outright shove Slaine. That would be childish. "You're such a child."

Slaine was still laughing at him, and showed no sign of stopping. Instead of lowering himself to Slaine's level, Inaho tried his best to ignore him, but before he knew it, the other child was carefully edging closer to him. Inaho should have kept a healthy distance between them, but that almost felt like Slaine's teasing was working, so he stayed put and glared. Then, a little finger started poking at him, first on his arm, then his shoulder, neck, and chin, before Slaine's roaming finger settled on poking his cheek, over and over. Inaho tried to ignore it, but found it incredibly hard to do as Slaine got more daring.

"That crab has a temper. He doesn't like it when I poke him." Inaho couldn't convince himself to keep trying to ignore Slaine, especially when he saw the outright glee on his face. "But what about you? What will you do?"

"Stop," Inaho demanded, balling his fists in irritation.

Slaine grinned, either not noticing Inaho's discomfort, or not caring. "Make me." he challenged, a playful, aggressive look in his eye.

"Slaine, stop it." Inaho reiterated, making sure not to look at Slaine, because that was just as infuriating as the poking.

"I'm just poking you. It doesn't hurt." Slaine said, in a way that Inaho could only describe as obnoxious. "Why don't you get back up on the rock and keep sunning? Your skin is cold." It would have sounded helpful from anyone else, but it was hard to ignore the mocking tone that went with it.

With an indignant hiss, Inaho finally gave in, and tried to get away. He batted Slaine's accursed finger away, and put some strong tail flaps between them. To Inaho's distress, Slaine adopted an almost predatory gaze, and gave chase, following him with that insufferable poking finger in hot pursuit. Before he knew it, he was actively swimming away, and Slaine was chasing him. How had he been drawn into this childishness!?

"This is why no one likes you," Inaho explained maliciously, trying to evade Slaine, with very little success. "You're obnoxious."

"This is why no one likes you!" Slaine countered a second later. "You're no fun!"

"You're annoying," Inaho supplied, as if his case simply needed more evidence to be proven true. As if he needed evidence that Slaine was infuriating.

"You're dumb!" Slaine answered, as if it was somehow an effective counter argument, which it absolutely was not. It also wasn't true.

"I am not dumb, you're dumb," Came Inaho's response, as he once again tried to stay away from Slaine, and failed as that damned finger poked at his tail.

Slaine halted his pursuit suddenly, and puffed out his small chest, trying to look bigger than he was."I know more than you do!" The young mer said, pursing his lips in disagreement.

"Do not," Inaho answered flatly, relieved that Slaine had stopped chasing and poking him. Even still, that didn't mean he wanted to lose. When had this become a game to be won?

"Alright," Slaine responded. He looked around for a few moments, before settling on something in the ocean. He looked over at Inaho again, and pointed to the area he'd been in before. "What do you know about that crab?"

Inaho scrunched up his nose. "It's delicious." Inaho looked over in the direction Slaine had pointed, but he couldn't see anything that looked like a crab. There were some long patches of seaweed though, it was probably hiding there.

But when Inaho looked back at Slaine, he had that annoying, smug look on his face. "Then I win. I know more than that. They grow about this big," he held up his longest finger, "they're sometimes blue or brown, but they also change colors. That makes them harder to find. They also like hanging onto seaweed with their claws." Slaine held up his hand and brought his fingers and thumb together as if they were a claw.

Inaho rolled his eyes, and huffed to himself. "I knew all that." Which was true. He could have easily said all those things, but he hadn't even seen the crab. Slaine had an unfair advantage. This was a dumb challenge, by a dumb mer, who thought he wasn't dumb.

"Did not," Slaine responded a heartbeat later.

"Yes I did," Inaho asserted a few seconds later.

"Did not," Came back as a response, as confident and cocky as could be.

Inaho gave a small hiss of irritation, and chose to ignore Slaine at that point. Arguing was not worth his time. He started swimming back towards the rock he'd left behind, but that only gave Slaine incentive to follow him, and start poking again. Inaho groaned, and tried to scurry away.

"Stop it!" Inaho growled, redoubling his efforts to escape, but Slaine kept up with him.

"Why?" Slaine asked, with fake innocence all over his face. He didn't stop chasing though, not even a bit.

"I don't like it." Inaho stated, a hiss on his lips a he said it.

He heard Slaine giggle behind him, and it was infuriating that the other was laughing at him. "But I'm not hurting you," Slaine answered, his voice singsong and obnoxious.

Instead of arguing, or trying to reason with Slaine again, since that seemed like a waste of time, Inaho decided on a completely different tactic. He turned right around, and started poking at Slaine instead. To his amazement, Slaine's eyes got as big as clams, and he dashed away in a great hurry, but before Slaine could adapt to the turnabout, Inaho landed one solid poke to his abdomen. Inaho didn't miss how the other mer thrashed at the slight touch. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and he edged closer to poke at Slaine again, but the other child kept a safe distance away from Inaho. The reason was more than obvious. Inaho kept closing the gap between them, and reaching out to poke the other child, but Slaine was far more evasive than Inaho had expected. He kept slipping away from Inaho's fingers at the last second.

"You're ticklish," Inaho stated, with a hint of aggression in his voice.

"No I'm not," Slaine denied quickly, as he slipped away from Inaho yet again.

"You can tell me to stop if you're ticklish," Inaho offered, knowing that Slaine wouldn't take the offer, even though he would have honored it. Probably. Maybe.

"I'm not ticklish!" Slaine denied yet again, only barely escaping a poke to his chest.

"Then I'll keep going," Inaho responded nonchalantly. "I'm not hurting you," he said, throwing Slaine's words right back at him.

Slaine scowled over at him, before once again evading a poke, but Inaho was relentless. He tried to wear down Slaine like a predator would, chasing him into the shallows, only for Slaine to have a surprisingly fast land speed. He then changed tactics and chased him back into the ocean, only to find that Slaine was quite a bit faster than him in open water too. It was infuriating, but obviously there was some reason why Slaine hadn't become something's meal already, even though Harklight usually saved him. Still, Inaho continued to give chase. If he couldn't match Slaine in speed, he'd beat him in stamina.

An hour later, Slaine had still effectively stayed out of arms reach. Chasing Slaine was exhausting, and with resignation, Inaho slunk back to his sunning rock, and hoisted himself up for a mid afternoon nap. The whole thing had been childish and stupid. Slaine was larger than him, though not by too much. Still, it made sense that since he was larger, he would be more powerful, and have more endurance. Inaho had gone about it all wrong, and he'd come out the worst for it. But the other mer was absolutely infuriating; he'd wanted to torment Slaine right back, and hadn't thought about the situation logically. Failure was the obvious punishment. He needed a good rest to replenish his energy, and heal his wounded pride.

Only, it was impossible to sleep, or even just relax, with Slaine laughing at him from a safe distance away. The other mer was obviously very pleased that he had won whatever game he thought they were playing. Inaho was less inclined to think that he'd lost outright, just that catching Slaine wasn't worth his time and energy. It had been a foolish idea to begin with. It wasn't like Inaho could eat him, even if he had caught Slaine. The older mer wouldn't like that very much at all.

Determined to sleep through Slaine's racket, Inaho turned his back to the other child, and forced his eyes shut. The sun and the waves and the breeze were just as nice as he remembered them being. It was only Slaine's heckling that ruined the atmosphere. But as Inaho continued to ignore him, things went suspiciously quiet. Inaho was wary, but in a dazed, half asleep sense. He was too tired to think any more about obnoxious Slaine. In the lack of sound, other than the waves, Inaho sank deeper into his nap, exhausted from trying to catch the dumb mer.

He jolted back awake with a hiss when Slaine poked him.

The game of tag, as Slaine would later call it, resumed.

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"I've never seen Nao so active with any of the others!" Yuki exclaimed, unable to contain her happiness as she and Harklight watched the two young mer chase after one another. Well, she amended in her head, Inaho was doing the chasing, which was very unusual. Inaho didn't often play well with the other children. This had been a long shot to begin with, but Inaho was being much more active, so it couldn't be a bad thing, right? A healthy dose of exercise was good for him!

"I'm so relieved." Harklight said, a soft smile on his face, and relief sagging his shoulders. "The other children like to tease Slaine, and he doesn't play well with them. He's always off on his own, and that is just so dangerous." He sighed, tension easing out of his stiff neck. "It's such a relief to see him finally playing with someone. I've been so worried that he hasn't made friends." Harklight spared a thankful glance over at Yuki, and she beamed at how she had orchestrated this whole thing. "He looks like he's really enjoying himself."

Yuki laughed. This really had been a wonderful idea on her part. "I've never seen Nao so animated! We should definitely make sure they get more time together from now on!"


End file.
